The present invention relates to dispensing totes, and more specifically, to removing totes one at a time from a stack.
Many warehouses include decant stations where an associate (e.g., a human worker) removes items from their packaging and stores the items in a container (e.g., a tote). For example, multiple items may come packaged in the same box when shipped from the manufacturer. At the decant station, the associate removes the items from the box and places the items in one or more totes. That way, the items can later be retrieved from the totes when fulfilling a received customer order. In this manner, a warehouse can receive bulk items from a manufacturer, store the individual items in totes at the decant stations, and then retrieve the items from the totes (or other containers) to satisfy customer orders.
However, removing and storing the items into totes is a time intensive process which requires the associate to retrieve and maneuver the totes in addition to removing the packaging from the items.